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A JOB WELL DONE DR. THORPE AND CONGRATUTIONS MR. PRESIDENT

By Claudio Brima Kamara, USA:

Finally, the 2012 parliamentary and presidential elections have ended after positive and negative campaigns by all political parties and presidential aspirants to convince the electorates to vote them into office. The APC party won a landslide victory with the highest numbers of parliamentarians. The bargain have ended and the people have elected their representatives they believe will deliver and it is now up to the newly elected members of parliament, to fulfill their own part of the bargain that is, to deliver on their campaign promises.

The people of Sierra Leone are now aware, unlike in the past when there is a one party dictatorship. If their representatives in parliament do not perform, elections will come again, and they will be voted out of office.

I doff my hat once more to Dr. Christiana Thorpe like I did in 2007 for a job well done. Indeed, Dr. Thorpe has proved to the people of your country and beyond that you are reliable, trustworthy, disciplined and will NEVER compromise your integrity for a piece of silver or anything whatsoever. Dr. Thorpe your name will go down into history and will tell generations yet unborn that you are a patriot who have conducted the most free, fair, transparent and credible elections in our country, devoid of violence.

You are not like former chief electoral commissioners who for one reason or the other manipulated previous elections results in favour of a party of their interest. Dr. Thorpe you are a patriotic Sierra Leonean and I am proud of you and hope that you will serve as a role model for other Sierra Leoneans to emulate.

Dr. Christiana Thorpe, National Returning Officer and Commisioner for the National Electoral Commission of SierraLeone

Mr. President Congratulations as you begin your second term of five years as the leader of our country. Of all the negative campaigns by your opponents, the people have entrusted the country’s destiny into your hands for the next five years. It goes without saying that your last five years in office was not an easy one because people that you have confidence in, hoping that they will work with you to deliver your promises to the people disappointed you.

Some of the people whom you appointed to serve in your cabinet were found guilty of corruptions including the former mayor of Freetown who won the 2007 elections on the ticket of your party. As human, I believe you were not happy with this because you were confident that these people will deliver and not be a party to corruption. However, I must commend you for giving the anti-corruption commission more powers to prosecute cases than your predecessor who did little in the fight against corruption in our country.

Mr. President you will be our leader for the next five years and the expectation of the people are high particularly so, as you have learnt from the mistakes that you made in the last five years. I am imploring you to ask for God’s divine intervention to appoint patriotic Sierra Leoneans with credibility to serve in your cabinet and not just the ones who will be travelling around the globe receiving “fat” per diems and enriching themselves and sending their children to Europe and America while some people in the country will be thinking of how to get a square meal a day.

You know your ministers who perform good, satisfactory and poorly during the last five years as you are the one who signed performance contracts with them. However, some of us have been hearing about one of your deputy minister who is in an enviable ministry that he is not only corrupt free, but he is also helping in the fight against corruption in his own small way by refusing to sign some vouchers from some contractors, he believe are not genuine and will cause a loss to the country. He is so strict that he is nicknamed “MR. CLEAN”. Indeed, these are the type of Sierra Leoneans we are expecting to serve in your new cabinet.

We need more of “MR. CLEAN” in your new administration. You know the ones who sign bad contracts and agreements, be it mining or fishing etc. etc. on behalf of the country during the last five years. We don’t want to hear the names of old politicians who have been cross carpeting from one party to another to achieve their selfish desires instead of putting the interest of the country first.

Mr. President you are not a new comer to the job as leader of our country. We are expecting you to show the exit door to the ministers you think didn’t perform to your expectation. The people have suffered for years and for them to re-elect you to this highest office again, against your opponents is a clear indication that they have confidence in you and believe that you will deliver your promises. But you alone as the captain cannot make this happen without your team of players that is why I am advising you to appoint Sierra Leoneans that have the fear of God in them to serve in your new cabinet. They should know that they are servants of the people and not the masters.

Once again, congratulations President Koroma and a job well done Dr. Christiana Thorpe.